Friday, 16 September 2011

India signs defence R&D agreement with UK

Dr VK Saraswat, the head of DRDO, exchanging a letter of arrangement (LoA) with Sir Mark Welland, who heads the UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)

The MoD's press release is as follows:-

INDIA, UK INCH TOWARDS COLLABORATIVE DEFENCE R&D

New Delhi: Bhadrapada 25, 1933

Friday, Sep 16, 2011

India and United Kingdom entered into a letter of arrangement today to pursue collaborative Defence R&D Cooperation with UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and facilitate making best use of respective research and technology development capability through joint projects, collaborative research and industry and academia participation. The LOA was signed in London by Dr VK Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Raksha Mantri, Secretary Defence R&D and Director General Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India and Professor Sir Mark Welland, Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA), Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom. Dr VK Saraswat is currently on a visit to UK on the invitation of UK Ministry of Defence.

The signing of LOA marks an important milestone in the technical collaboration between the two countries and a number of projects are being planned to commence in coming months.

On the occasion, Sir Mark Welland thanked Dr Saraswat for his efforts towards strengthening the relationship with India. He said, “I have seen the exceptional dedication, expertise and skill in DRDO personnel and know that UK can look forward to a productive and valuable cooperation with our great allies in India for many years to come”. He added, “India and UK have a strong history of mutual cooperation and have thriving science and engineering communities. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and is a powerhouse of technology”. He said that “Indian and British Defence scientists will be working together on technologies to face their country’s Defence and Security challenges, thanks to the new agreement”. Dr Saraswat thanked CSA and UK MOD on behalf of the Government of India and expressed hope that LOA will further strengthen the technical collaboration and mutual relations.

it's a good thing they came in. can u imagine india being under mughal rule for another 200 years? we would have been the epicentre of terrorism. india lost its glory the minute jaichand the traitor opened the gates and prithviraj chauchan never knew how to kill his enemies. the brits did some good atleast by building some railroads, preserving temples (unlike mughals who destroyed them), introducing english and a strong education system (which makes india competitive today) and united the country.

This is the worst idea in the world. India does not need the UK to develop its defense industry. Though UK's defense infrastructure may be more developed, India needs to increase defense spending and dedicate the increase to development of the defense infrastructure. Defense infrastructure can always be developed. The intellectual capital to develop high end technologies (which India has and the UK seeks to take advantage of) cannot be so easily developed. The development of high end technologies is also a sensitive matter. India should not work with the UK unless India does not have the capacity, or cannot develop the capacity, to produce by itself or in conjunction with its existing defense partners.